Michelle Obama: Look at 'who's putting their actions out there'

By Jennifer Epstein

07/10/12 01:37 PM EDT

AP Photo

First lady Michelle Obama didn't quite pile on the Obama campaign's calls for Mitt Romney to release more information about his offshore financial holdings, but she did on Tuesday urge voters to examine the records and pasts of candidates.

"Look hard at these candidates, look at what they’re saying. Look at the direction and figure out who's speaking truth to power, who’s putting their actions out there and what their records have been," she said at the start of a panel discussion hosted by Mamiverse, a website for Latina moms and families.

The first lady won't be deployed as an attack dog for her husband's reelection campaign, but she's a key part of the Obama team's efforts to contrast the president's values with Mitt Romney's.

"No matter who we are, we are all struggling and working toward the same goals. But our leadership does matter," she said Tuesday. "We have to look for leaders who share our values, who have the same kind of vision for this country that we all share."

Hinting that she shares the values of her audience, Obama said that conversations like the one she was having "are completely therapeutic for me as a mother, as a working mother."

Though Obama said she has a stake in the presidential election because she wants to see her husband reelected and wants to continue to serve as first lady, her desire to see the president reelected "has 99 percent to do with my girls and the future I want for them and the world I want to leave for."

Later Tuesday, she's set set to speak at Barbara Goleman High School in Miami and at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.